Have you found yourself in a situation where Google Photos is uploading your phone’s screenshots? I was there, too. I fixed that problem with a few taps on my phone, and I’ll show you how I did it.
Prevent Google Photos From Uploading Your Phone’s Screenshots
Google Photos offers lots of features. One of these features helped me prevent my phone’s screenshots from being uploaded to my cloud storage. Here’s how you can use that feature on your phone.
Launch the Google Photos app. In the app’s top-right corner, tap your profile icon. In the open menu, choose Photos Settings > Backup.
On the Backup page, scroll down and select “Back Up Device Folders.” On the Device Folders page, you’ll see a list of folders containing images on your phone. To prevent a folder’s images from being uploaded to Google Photos, turn off the toggle next to that folder.
Most phones save their screenshots in the “Screenshots” folder, so you’ll turn off the toggle for that folder on the open screen.
That’s it. Google Photos won’t upload your phone’s screenshots to the cloud anymore. In the future, if you want to continue uploading screenshots to Google Photos, simply turn on the toggle that you turned off above.
Delete the Screenshots That Google Photos Has Already Uploaded
By the time I realized Google Photos was uploading my phone’s screenshots, a lot of screenshots were already there on the cloud. Luckily, the app offers an option to quickly and easily find those screenshots and remove them.
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Open Google Photos. In the app’s bottom bar, tap “Search.” On the open screen, select “Screenshots.” Tap and hold on the screenshots you want to remove and select the trash can icon in the top-right corner.
In the open prompt, choose “Move to Trash.”
Note that Google Photos will keep your deleted items in the Trash for 30 days. If you want to remove your screenshots immediately, in the app’s bottom bar, tap “Collections.” Select “Trash,” tap the three dots in the top-right corner, and choose “Empty Trash.”
In the prompt that opens, select “Delete Permanently.” Note that you can’t recover your screenshots once you’ve removed them with this option.
You Can Still Manually Upload Specific Screenshots to Google Photos
Turning off the screenshot upload feature doesn’t mean you can’t upload any screenshots to Google Photos. You can still manually select the screenshots you want to upload to your cloud storage.
You can use Google Photos or your phone’s gallery app to do that. Here are both ways.
Using Google Photos
Launch the Google Photos app. In the app’s bottom bar, tap “Collections.” On the open page, scroll down and select “Screenshots.”
You’ll see your phone’s screenshots. Tap and hold on the ones you want to upload so they’re selected. Then, in the top-right corner, tap the three dots and choose “Back Up Now.”
Google Photos will begin uploading your chosen screenshots.
Using Your Phone’s Gallery App
Open your phone’s gallery app and find the folder containing your screenshots. Access a screenshot, tap the “Share” option, choose “More,” and select “Photos Upload to Photos.”
To upload multiple screenshots at once, tap and hold on the screenshots you want to upload. At the top, tap the share icon, choose “More,” and select “Photos Upload to Photos.”
On the Upload to Photos page, confirm the files you’re uploading. Then, in the bottom bar, tap “Upload.” Your phone will begin uploading the selected screenshots to Google Photos.
Managing the Screenshots You’ve Uploaded to Google Photos
To better manage the screenshots that you upload to Google Photos, you can star those screenshots or create a new album for those items. This way, you can find your favorite screenshots easily and quickly the next time you’re looking for them.
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You can also review the storage space occupied by your uploaded screenshots in Google Photos. This lets you clear up any screenshots if you no longer need them. To do that, open Google Photos, tap your profile icon, choose “Photos Settings,” select “Backup,” and tap “Manage Storage.”
On the open page, in the Review and Delete section, you’ll find the storage space occupied by your screenshots next to Screenshots. To view the actual files using this storage space, tap “Screenshots.” To remove screenshots, tap and hold on the ones you want to let go and choose “Move to Trash.”
And that’s how I ensured the screenshots of my chats, app errors, and memes weren’t there on Google Photos. I’d be curious to know when you realized this app was backing up your screenshots.
